June 21.
"My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass."—Deut. xxxii. 2.
"As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, .... so shall my word be."—Isa. lv. 10, 11.
How lovely and how precious is the silent dew after the scorching heat of the summer day! How gratefully does the earth send up its tribute of fragrance through the soft evening air, and leaves, and grass, and flowers, revive beneath the refreshing drops of pearly moisture! Precious as this gift of heaven is to us in our green island of the ocean, it is still more so to the inhabitant of the parched countries of the East, and the image in these verses must have come home with wonderful power to those whose life and daily bread depended so much on seasonable, yet often precarious, supplies of rain and dew from above. Let me strive to enter into the feeling with which such a one regarded these blessings, and ask myself, "Is the word of His grace like the dew to thee? Does His doctrine drop as the rain to refresh thee? And is its sweet influence making thee 'bring forth and bud,' even as a well-watered garden, to thy Lord's praise? Oh, thou canst not too earnestly watch, seek, pray, thirst for those showers of blessing, the Holy Spirit's own gift, without which thou art but a barren desert, a fruitless garden, a desolate wilderness."